


Reconciliation

by AverageAtBest123



Series: Short Stories [9]
Category: Sex Education (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:00:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28865190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AverageAtBest123/pseuds/AverageAtBest123
Summary: Begins during the Dance in S1 E7.This is my take on what could happen if Otis found out about what Maeve told Ola in the bathroomIdea suggested by one of you guys!
Relationships: Otis Milburn/Maeve Wiley
Series: Short Stories [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1998715
Comments: 28
Kudos: 41





	1. Success And Failure

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for the ideas you guys have given me, one of them has made me produce this so let me know if it's good enough!

“Don’t be surprised if he doesn’t seem keen.” Maeve almost examined Ola and smiled a tiny bit. Ola looked more confused by the second and soon enough Maeve had left, which didn’t exactly make the situation better. 

Ola looked in the mirror with a frown on her face. Why did Maeve of all people tell her that her date was inexperienced? And how did she know about that? What happened between them? Too many questions were eating her up, and she needed answers, so she finished in the bathroom and headed back to the hall where the dance was taking place. She found him sitting at the same table they were at before, unsurprisingly, and trundled over to him. When he spotted her he smiled, but she noticed that it wasn’t the same as when they had bumped into Maeve and Jackson earlier. It was a half-hearted smile at best, and at this point everything Maeve and Otis had done in the last few minutes was just adding wood to the fire. She sat down, waiting to see if he would say something but since she’d known Otis it was obvious that he could get nervous and awkward so she guessed she had to start. 

“Are you having fun?” Ola didn’t want to dive straight into what she wanted to find out, she felt that would come across as quite intrusive, and would definitely make her seem really jealous.

“Not really.” He replied, glancing at her but then looking away.

“Any reason?” Ola prodded.

“Not really.” Otis repeated. It seemed like he didn’t want to be here at all.

“Um ok.” Ola looked around and spotted Maeve sitting next to Jackson. She looked exactly the same as Otis did. Bored, uninterested, annoyed. Jackson had clearly smuggled some sort of alcoholic beverage into the dance because he was almost falling off of his chair and looking around like he was lost. Maeve slumped down in her chair and moved away from her boyfriend a bit, before she caught Ola’s eye. Ola squinted a little at her and Maeve tried putting her mean face on.

“What’s wrong?” Otis had faced his date now and noticed a bit of discomfort. 

“Huh?” 

“I said what’s the matter?” Otis tilted his head slightly, questioning her actions.

“No, nothing. I, uh... everything’s fine.” Ola dismissed.

“You sure?”

“100%.” Ola smiled in hope that he’d drop the subject.

“Yeah, ok.” Otis said, quietly and looked back to the horde of people in front of him that were dancing, some were very out of rhythm. He wondered if he should ask Ola to dance, but countered it since he knew he would be awful at dancing.

“Do you mind if we talk, you know, in private?” Ola asked after the band stopped playing and began to prepare another song. 

“Why?” Otis scrunched his face up in confusion, and some element of fear too.

“I just think it’s necessary.” Ola raised her eyebrows, expecting an answer. He thought for a moment and looked away, trying to find an underlying meaning to what Ola had said, but agreed eventually.

“Ok, lets go.” Otis got up and followed Ola outside of the hall. Maeve had locked her eyes on them watched them go, looking a bit upset that she might have caused Otis to lose his virginity. She thought about following them, but ultimately went against it since it would probably just get her into trouble. Instead, she just kept the terrible slouched posture she had whilst she was sitting next to Jackson, who was retching a little bit already. She scoffed and shook her head, and seriously wondered if breaking up with him soon would be the right choice. She was conflicted about Otis and Jackson, no doubt about that, and she wanted to make sure she would make the right decision. The question is, which decision was the correct one?

Meanwhile, Ola walked out the front of the school with Otis following, and she turned around to wait for him as he was being quite slow. He said something that surprised her though.

“Is ‘talk’ your… code word for, uh, sex?” Otis was so nervous he was shaking a little.

“What?!” Ola shouted, but more because she was surprised. “It doesn’t… no, why would you think that?”

“I’m sorry, I just panicked.” Otis was quiet and almost retreated away from her. He made things more awkward, and was waiting for Ola to leave him now and never speak to him again. At least, that's what he thought was going to happen

“I just wanted to clear things up.” Ola began, Otis looked at her with a confused expression, and typically he began fearing the worst.

“What-” Otis cleared his throat as his voice cracked. “What about?”

“Maeve spoke to me earlier, and-” Ola began, but Otis cut her off, suddenly gaining a huge boost of confidence.

“Oh you two spoke again?” Otis smiled, thinking that the two would get along.

“Kinda.” Ola looked down.

“Huh?” He raised one of his eyebrows.

“She said that you were uh…” Ola was unsure how to address this, and how to say it without coming across as disappointed or like she was mocking him. “I just want you to know I won’t judge you.”

“She said that she won't judge you?” Otis was getting more and more confused with every sentence it seemed.

“No that’s what I’m saying to you, I won't judge _you_.” 

“Oh.” Otis facepalmed which earned a small laugh from Ola.

“She uh, she said that you weren’t keen on doing anything, you know, sexual.” Ola spoke slowly, almost like she was asking a question. She tried to see if she was overstepping the boundaries, and she was quick to back up what she said when Otis coughed in embarrassment. “It’s fine if you aren’t itching for anything like that, I just wanted my questions to be answered.”

“She told you I was…” Otis couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“You’re not very experienced.” Ola said, biting the bullet. She wanted this over and done with now, it would only get more awkward if they stood there and talked slowly to each other. “I’ll repeat, it’s completely fine, you’re still you and that’s great.”

Even with Ola trying to reassure him Otis felt a little hurt, thinking that Maeve wanted him to have difficulty finding a relationship and someone who cared for him because when he finally found someone who was interested in him she said those things to her. And the fact that he loved her made everything worse.

“I… I don’t really...” Otis gulped, this was hard. “I’m sorry, I wanna go home.”

Otis turned around and started to go back into the hall to get his things before he would head home. A decent evening had turned into an awful one, and he couldn’t believe that Maeve was the reason for that. Normally it would be the other way around.

“Can't we dance, just for a little bit?” Ola called after him and started following him back into the hall.

“No, sorry.” Otis entered the hall and headed towards his table, which surprisingly still had his stuff there. He picked up everything and began walking out. He glanced over the hall and saw that Maeve was staring at him with a look he couldn’t quite decrypt, but once she noticed him looking at her she changed to a normal expression, and smiled at him. He just faced the exit, knowing if he smiled back he’d never be able to stay annoyed at her. He couldn’t see, but when he didn’t even acknowledge her, Maeve was confused and a little bit hurt too. She wondered if something had upset him and thought about going after him to try and cheer him up, but when Jackson put his arm around Maeve and groaned something inaudible due to his drunken state, she went against it. She’d just check up on him tomorrow in the morning.

Otis went home, avoided any awkward conversations with Jean about the dance or what happened with Ola. She was aware he hadn't ever been in a relationship with anyone, nor even been to a dance with a girl. Her eagerness and nosiness wanted to know if everything went smoothly, but by his strop when he came back she assumed it went poorly.

Otis spent what was the left of the evening locked in his room, away from everything. He turned his phone off, didn’t load up anything on his laptop, he just sat and read one of his very few books with a bit of background music. It wasn’t often he did this, but when he did it made him feel calmer and certainly did forget about any worries he had. He came out once all evening, and that was to collect some food Jean had prepared as she was worrying about him. He mentioned he was okay, and went back upstairs to his solitary confinement. Soon enough, late night had arrived and he fell asleep, awaiting a new day.

With Eric still annoyed, and rightfully so, the trips to school in the morning were always lonely, and the trips returning home from school were exactly the same. His thoughts, sound of the chain on his bike, and the odd screech of the tyres was the only thing he could hear every morning he went to school. Every minute he missed his best friend more, and when he arrived at school and locked up his bike, he was really unsure on how much longer it would be before he would have a breakdown. As he entered the corridor to fetch his things out of his locker, he spotted Eric who was at his. His eyes widened at an opportunity, and quickly went up to Eric.

“Eric, please let me explain everything.” He said as he came to standstill.

“You’ve got nothing to explain, it’s clear who your priorities are.” Eric shook his head slightly, but Otis didn’t notice as he was looking down at the floor in shame.

“I didn’t- don’t have priorities, what I did was stupid, okay? I was pressured into choosing you or Maeve, you both needed me but Maeve pretty much forced me to go with her.” Otis pleaded.

“That’s not good enough, you can’t pin the blame on others.” Eric’s voice was surprisingly calm.

“But… but…” Otis tried to come up with anything, but simply couldn’t

“But nothing.” Eric shut his locker and was about to walk off when someone from behind Otis reached out and stopped.

“Eric, wait.” Maeve said, sounding sincere. To say Otis was surprised would be an understatement. “Please?”

“This was planned wasn’t it.” Eric said, switching between the two of them. Otis was silent.

“No.” Maeve said, abruptly and firmly. “Don’t be angry for the choice that Otis made, because there wasn’t one. He was right when he said I pressured him.”

Eric glanced at Otis to see his reaction, but he just looked at Maeve with so much confusion. He definitely pondered over why Maeve was doing this, and to be honest so was Eric. It was odd for Maeve to be so sincere and honest, especially when admitting she was in the wrong.

“Do you expect me to believe that?” Eric asked, still doubtful.

“Well yeah, it’s the truth.” Maeve frowned a little, getting slightly annoyed at Eric’s suspicion of what she was telling him.

“I’ll think about it.” Eric picked up his French Horn and walked away, leaving Otis and Maeve stranded in the hallway together. 

They waited until Eric was out of view, and then Maeve faced him, expecting him to start a conversation like he always does, except it wasn’t quite what she anticipated.

“Thanks.” Otis mumbled, and opened his locker door. 

“That’s all you have to say?” Maeve asked, a little annoyed at him.

“I would say more but I’m quite disappointed in what you’ve done.” Otis sounded like he didn’t have the patience for her, but could keep the conversation going if he needed to. And he needed someone to talk to right now.

“I just got your best friend back, what are you on about?” Maeve said in a loud whisper, she didn’t want anyone to hear what they were on about, but she wanted to show her annoyance.

“For that I’m grateful, but not the other thing.” Otis said, still not sounding overjoyed but neither terribly unhappy. His reply caused an awkward silence as they were unsure what to say to each other.

“So…” Maeve tried to urge him on.

“So what?” 

“What are you disappointed about?” Maeve moved a little so she could get a better view at him. “And why didn’t you even say goodbye to me yesterday? Even a wave would’ve been fine.”

“Ah so you do remember yesterday.” Otis said, sarcastically. He faced her this time, wanting to see her reaction.

“Huh? What does that even mean?” Maeve was seconds away from really raising her voice. What was so hard to tell her, and why?

“You remembered me not saying goodbye, so you should remember this.”

Maeve looked at him, wide eyed with a bit of fear at what he was about to do. He wasn’t like this often, so she must have done something to hurt him but whilst she was there replaying events in her mind, she couldn’t put her finger on what could’ve annoyed him. They only had one interaction at the dance, and he seemed happy then. In fact the way he looked at her and appreciated her in that dress was exactly the thing she hoped would happen when Jackson saw her, but of course he was too busy thinking about himself and his curfew. Typical.

“You talked to a certain someone, about me, inappropriately.” Otis said, wanting to see if she got it with a vague explanation. That way, if she started talking about it, it would mean it did happen.

“Wh…” Maeve started but struggled to continue, just watching Otis with her mouth slightly open.

“Yeah, you spoke to Ola about me and my...” Otis checked around his shoulder for anyone potentially listening in before he changed his voice to a whisper. “Lack of sexual experience.”

Maeve looked at him for a moment, but then closed her eyes and pursed her lips violently and positioned her glance towards the ground so he couldn’t see her. This just confirmed to Otis that what Ola said was true, and he was heartbroken.

“Whatever she said it’s probably not the whole thing.” Maeve tried to play it down, but was panicking a little. She never wanted to make Otis this angry, especially now that she could say she liked him.

“So she made it up, huh?” Otis tried his best to show his impatience and frustration.

“No, no, no, I’m saying that you should listen to what I told her from me.” Maeve said, eager to set things straight and be honest. She didn’t want to hide anything from Otis anymore

“I got the whole thing from Ola. She told me all about you saying I won’t be keen to have sex with her.” Otis emphasised the ‘all’ comedically, still showing that his temper was flaring.

Maeve didn’t have a response initially, she just tried to think of anything to say and eventually found it. It took a lot of courage and bravery to say, however, and she begged internally that it wouldn’t backfire.

“I wanted to have you, not her.” She said quietly, and all the bravery was for nothing as Otis didn’t even hear.

“What?”

“I didn’t want her to have you.” She spoke up, and Otis heard this time.

“That’s not good enough, Maeve. Do you know how hard it is for me to find someone that actually liked me? And all for one of my best friends to try and sabotage that rare opportunity? Do you know how heart-breaking that is?”

Maeve was silent again, still contemplating on what would be the right words to say. She was so nervous, she'd never been in this situation before and was so confused about how to attack this situation and make it better

“I.. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry’s not gonna cut it.” Otis began walking off towards his first lesson, and thankfully for him it was one he didn’t share with Maeve.

“I’ll do anything to have you as my friend again!” Maeve called as she turned around to look at him walk off. 

“Good to know.” Otis was out of her view now, and Maeve allowed a couple tears to escape her as she went the other way.

Maeve wished she had said something more as she apologised, and maybe that conversation would’ve turned out differently, but she knew damn sure that she meant when she said she would do anything to have him as a friend, but deep down she wanted something more. She was unsure whether he wanted that too though, and just like previously, it's what had kept her from saying anything. She thought he never gave any signals or any reason for him to think of her the same she thinks of him, but not having him around at all was the worst thing possible. 

She had to fix this.


	2. Surprises Left, Right and Centre

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter before I *potentially* disappear forever.
> 
> I may be back before release, or after release but until then enjoy what I have left for you guys!

Lunchtime had arrived and Maeve was sitting on the bench at the front checking her phone. She wanted to text Otis to try and sort out everything, but she knew if the same situation was reversed and she received a text from Otis she would ignore it. Therefore she thought it was best to approach him and speak to him face to face. That way, he can really see that she would mean everything and would have almost no way of escaping an interaction. Just as she was about to put her phone away, it pinged and her heart began racing in anticipation of a message from Otis, and she was disappointed to see that it was Jackson.

Jackson: Just got out of class. Where are you? x

Maeve looked at the message and debated whether to tell him false information so she would have more time to think about what she would say to Otis, and even though it was so tempting she texted him back.

Maeve: Benches out front.

She was a little lonely now that Otis wasn’t going to hang out with her and Aimee couldn’t be seen with her so she would take Jackson's company just for someone to talk to for a bit. Soon enough, Jackson arrived and as usual he was smiling as he approached her.

“Hey.” Jackson said, sitting down. He went for a kiss but Maeve turned away a little bit so he kissed her cheek instead. Jackson was a little confused and slightly worried too, she hadn’t done this in the past. “Everything okay?”

“Yep.” Maeve responded. She wanted to say a little more but couldn’t for some reason. 

“You know you can talk to me about anything?” Jackson put his arm around her and tried to pull her close but she resisted and he just rested his arm on the bench instead.

“Yeah.” Maeve looked around and spotted Otis, on the other side of the field. He was talking with Eric and it was as if no fight had ever broken out between them. It was pretty much back to normal from the looks of it, they were laughing and joking. Maeve couldn’t keep her eyes off Otis though.

“Who’re you looking at?” Jackson looked in the same direction as her to try and see what it is that had caught her attention.

“Otis.” Maeve replied almost instantly and unwillingly too, and she regretted it when Jackson looked at her with a puzzled expression, urging her to elaborate. She sighed and knew she had to speak about it, at least she could get it off her chest instead of burying it inside of her. “We had an argument.”

“About…” Jackson dragged out the word, clearly wanting to know what had happened. A little bit of jealousy hit him, he recognised that Otis was the one person Maeve was always close to but he wanted himself to be in that position rather than Otis. He worried that there was a reason that Maeve wasn’t as close with him as she was with Otis.

“Doesn’t matter, I just said stuff I shouldn’t have.” Maeve was still looking at Otis, a little annoyed that he seemed so jovial when she was so glum. The only way she would be happy was if she had him by her side again, even though she was sure she wanted more. 

“Are you still friends?” Jackson hoped she would say no, so he could attempt to fill the void and become close to her. He knew that if he didn’t try to help her to love him, she wouldn’t do it by herself since she was giving off signs that she had her eyes and heart set on someone else. Of course, Jackson knew that was Otis.

“I hope so.” Maeve had a bit of a lump in her throat, she never wanted to talk about Otis possibly not being her friend, that hurt. “I need someone like him.”

“Yeah but you have me.” Again, Jackson tried putting his arm around Maeve’s shoulders and even though she let him this time, he could sense her discomfort. She glanced at him but looked away when he smiled, and shrugged her shoulders. Jackson shook his head discreetly but left his arm on her.

“You’re both great for me.” Maeve had to lie to herself, she saw he was getting a little upset. “I just don’t want to lose him.”

Maeve kept looking at Otis, and to her surprise they made eye contact for a moment. She smiled hoping that he would do the same, but he just glanced away and continued his conversation with Eric. She shut her eyes and bit her bottom lip in frustration with herself.

“Also, um, what did you mean by ‘need’ him?” Jackson asked, which surprised her. She looked at him to check if he was being genuine, and he was. She needed to be serious too, it was the only way to move forward. She looked back down to the ground before she began.

“I need someone thoughtful, selfless, friendly, considerate, non-judgemental and more. He ticks those boxes and I need someone like him in my life.” Maeve spoke without difficulty. The more she thought about what she was saying, the more she wondered why she was talking to Jackson of all people. This was a conversation she should be having with Aimee.

“Sounds like a good guy.” Jackson said quietly, hiding how annoyed he actually was. 

“He really is.” Maeve said, smiling. She directed her vision over towards Otis again and stared, in fact so much that she missed what Jackson said.

“Maeve?” Jackson’s eyebrows were raised when she looked at him

“Sorry what?” 

“Do I tick those boxes?” Jackson began to become a little nervous.

“What?” Maeve knew what he was on about, she just wanted to avoid this topic with him yet of course Jackson was adamant.

“Well it was easy to describe Otis using those words so am I the same? Do I fit your criteria?” Jackson feared her answer, having a gut feeling that it would be exactly what he didn’t want to hear.

“Uh… I guess.”

“Maeve…” Jackson sounded so disappointed.

“You’re nice… and you listen sometimes.” Maeve struggled to find any words.

“That’s it.” Jackson scrunched his face up, almost in disgust and he retracted his arm away from her now and faced away.

“Jackson ple-” Maeve began.

“I don’t want to hear it.” Jackson brought his hand up and waved it a little to order her to stop speaking. “If you can describe him so well and can’t call me anything more than nice then you should go and be his girlfriend.”

Jackson got up and started walking off, now showing his impatience and vexation. 

“Jackson wait!” Maeve called out, a couple tears dropping to the ground. She could have lost Otis, and now her boyfriend. Losing two people that she was close to (or sort of close to) in one day would never be good, no matter who they were.

Jackson didn’t want to look behind him at her, because he really did feel like he loved her. It just wasn’t returned on her behalf, and that made him annoyed at her and Otis too. He knew Otis was the person she wanted to be with whether she would admit or not, and the disappointment he had was intense. He really did feel like he had lost one of the few people that could make him happy, but he just has to move on and find someone else. Maybe he would, or maybe he wouldn’t, but he would certainly be making himself heal from this.

Maeve cried a little bit more as he walked into the main building and out of her eyesight, but when she glanced over at Otis yet again, she got the confidence she needed to go up to him. She picked up her stuff and began the short walk to the other side of the field. She stared at the ground all the way, trying to not make things awkward before she got near him, and when she did Eric and Otis weren’t in the spot she first saw them in. She looked around and saw the duo heading towards one of the other entrances into the main building and thought she may lose an opportunity if she let him slip away.

“Otis!” She yelled, but he didn’t turn around. Only Eric did which made him stop, but Otis tried to continue walking.

“OTIS!” Maeve shouted even louder, and he looked up to the sky before turning around to look at her, giving her the impression that he didn’t really want to talk to her. She didn’t blame him either.

“Dude, you need to sort this out.” Eric demanded, keeping relatively quiet so that the approaching Maeve couldn’t hear them.

“I don’t.” Otis sounded angry.

“Uhhh, yes you do. I’m going to my next lesson, you’re staying right here and talking to her.” Eric poked him in the chest and walked off, leaving Otis frozen. In their conversation during break the whole ‘Maeve telling Ola about his lack of sexual activity’ had come up, and Eric encouraged him to speak to her about it and to tell her why he was so hurt, but he told him that he was going to wait for her to come and instigate a conversation with him. And soon enough later that day at lunch she did come up to him.

“What now Maeve.” Otis tried to put on his best ‘not in the mood’ voice and that meant making his question sound like a statement. He put his arms out beside him briefly before bringing them back to his sides. He looked at her properly for the first time, and noticed her eyes were a little red, and now he was a little more worried. “Have you been crying?”

“A little.” Maeve confessed.

“I’m sorry, I should’ve talked to you about it.” Otis said, knowing that Eric’s advice was correct. He rubbed his forehead a little and sighed.

“Jackson dumped me.” Maeve said, biting her fingernail. Otis was wide eyed and shocked. Was this good or bad news?

“Oh I uh… I’m-” He began, but couldn’t find the words to finish.

“That’s why I was crying.” Maeve said. She didn’t want to make herself seem weak by crying because she thinks they lost their friendship. “I’m not here to talk about that though.”

“Um, okay.” Otis’ awkwardness was blossoming, and he scratched the back of his head to try and shift any sort of poor momentum away. 

“I want to talk about what happened yesterday.” Maeve eyed him to see his reaction, and it wasn’t as pleasant as she hoped. He shook his head slightly, and she could see some anger hidden behind his eyes. “Please?”

“Ugh, go on.” Otis said, feeling a little defeated. He knew that she was going to want to talk about that but he can’t help but feel he had the leverage in this situation and now he had lost it.

“Okay, I only spoke to Ola to warn her that you might not be ready. I didn’t want you to be feeling like you let her down if she wanted something more than just a date at a school dance.” Maeve hid the real reason of course, it was a little too soon.

“But Maeve, it’s not your place to say that sort of stuff about me to anyone, especially when you’re not telling me you’re doing it.” Otis argued quite viciously, and Maeve knew he was correct and was a little frightened of him. He seemed very, very angry, but once he realised how frustrated he sounded he returned to a somewhat normal state.

“I wasn’t thinking straight that evening, I… I’m so sorry.” She did know what else she could say, but again it was too soon right now. Otis rubbed his face and wanted to know why this was so hard.

“You’ve already said you’re sorry.” Otis went back to his emotionless voice.

“Yeah, okay…” Maeve whispered to herself, but her voice got louder. “What can I do to be your friend again?”

“Just don’t repeat mistakes like these again, please.” Otis pleaded, and half-smiled at her for the first time that day.

“I won’t, I promise.” Maeve smiled and ran up to him to hug him tightly, and she excitedly shouted. “Thank you!”

She was over the moon that she hadn't lost him, and now she had her arms around his neck holding him close. He put his hands on her waist, but he didn’t exactly hold her tightly and when she removed herself from him he looked down to check the time, and to look over the field to see if anyone was still on there. When he looked back at her, she had the same lustful eyes and look she gave him on the bridge and she began leaning towards him again. When he realised what was happening, they were mere inches apart and he swiftly moved away from her but didn’t say anything. She looked devastated that they had another near kiss whilst Otis showed obvious confusion and he was more than stunned.

“For comedic reasons, I am still a virgin.” Otis said, immediately wishing he hadn't.

“I’m sorry.” Maeve said again, and looked away embarrassed. Twice she wanted to kiss him, twice he had pulled away. Maybe it was a sign that he didn’t like her at all and all the signals he gave her early on like the looks, the flowers, always being there for her were just the things friends give each other. She wouldn’t know, she never had a proper friend before.

“I’m gonna head off, I got French next.” Otis said, and turned around after waving her goodbye. He closed his eyes, knowing he screwed up again and wondered why he couldn’t have leaned in instead of away. Twice she had tried to kiss him, and twice he messed up. If there was any chance of her liking him, those feelings would've evaporated by now in Otis’ mind but he still had burning curiosity inside of him. He turned around again, and Maeve hadn't moved a muscle, Her eyes were fixed onto him.

“Why did you try and kiss me again?” Otis raised one of his eyebrows.

Oh, uh, nothi… um.” Maeve pinched the bridge of her nose to hide her eyes a little as she shut them. Was it the right timing?

“Just tell me what you’re thinking, doesn’t matter what it is.” Otis urged her on, and he could see her contemplating whether or not to listen to him and speak. She made a couple noises like she was struggling to say what she was thinking before she started speaking actual words.

“I just feel like I’m safe around you.” Maeve bit her fingernails and looked down at the ground.

“If you didn’t feel safe then we wouldn’t be good friends.” Otis said, confused and doubting that what she said was the real reason.

“I was jealous of Ola!” Maeve snapped, but not in a bad way. It was more that she couldn't keep it in anymore.

“What?” Otis took a step back in surprise.

“Yesterday, I was jealous of Ola being with you instead you being with me.” Maeve shut her eyes again. She wanted herself to stop but for some unknown reason she couldn’t. Otis now knew why she said what she said to Ola.

“You spoke to Ola to try and put her off me so that you could try and have me…” Otis said, scoffing a little but pleased with himself that he worked out the real reason she did what she did. He was a little bit more annoyed now, but also happy that Maeve all but confessed she wanted to be with him. He didn’t display that happy side though.

“Y… Yes.” Maeve continued to look down. “I did it because… I was jealous because… because...”

“Because?” Otis raised his eyebrows in anticipation but was unsure that she was going to say anything. She looked like she was battling with herself and Otis couldn’t put his finger on which side was winning. Until she yelled in a panicky but serious tone.

“Because I’m in love with you!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking with me.
> 
> Hope it did the job, last chapter might be out next week!


	3. Succumbing to Feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just couldn't leave you guys on a cliffhanger for too long so I had to release this now😅
> 
> I hope you enjoy the final chapter of this!

“Because I’m in love with you!” 

Otis stood still, staring at her with his mouth moving but not producing any sounds. He was dumbfounded, of course he was, he never thought she could ever like him and here she was telling him she loved him. But did she really love him? Otis couldn’t help but doubt it, but simply couldn’t say anything. He was too shocked.

“I’m in love with you...” Maeve repeated, this time less panicky and more quiet. She felt like she had to tell him now or the opportunity would be squandered. She didn’t know what he was thinking, but she wanted to make sure he knew she meant it - and she hoped he would say it back, but she didn’t have much optimism at all.

“Y… You lo…” Otis was unable to finish but Maeve knew what he was going to say anyway.

“Please believe me, I really do.” Maeve thought about going towards him for another comforting hug but figured it would be a little too awkward right now and him running off would be the worst thing he could do right now. She’d prefer rejection than silence, but reciprocation would be everything to her.

“Do you understand why I’m hesitating to believe that you’re telling the truth?” Otis looked at the ground, hiding a hint of anger that was raging within him.

“Kind of.” Maeve whispered, but he heard her.

“And I hope you’re not saying that because you’ve just broken up with Jackson.” Otis couldn’t be sure, and even if it was irrational it didn’t make him think it was anything less than true. He believed all the negative thoughts that entered his mind, because he couldn’t actually believe this was happening.

“What?!” Maeve shouted, obviously confused, and her outburst made Otis jump a little. 

“You heard.” Otis said once he regained his composure. Well, all the composure that he could. Most of it was non-refundable at this moment in time, he was a nervous wreck right now along with all the other emotions of confusion, anger.

“No! Why would I do that?” Maeve was angry at first but then calmed down a little bit. She was still confused at why he was thinking and saying what he was.

“Because it's not the first time you’ve done something like this! That’s why!” Otis sounded hurt but regardless still raised his voice, even if he didn’t want to shout at her. 

“Tell me when I’ve done that.” Maeve crossed her arms. How was it this hard to make him believe that he was telling the truth.

Otis exhaled a long breath and began quite a long rant, but one that was truthful in a way. At least, from his perspective. 

“You had a bad night at Jackson’s, came to me and tried to kiss me when you thought he dumped you, then the next day you were back with him all the time. Now Jackson dumps you and you come over to me and one of the first things you do is try to kiss me and then tell me you _love_ me. How am I supposed to believe you when you don’t even know if what you’re saying is true?!”

Otis took in a deep breath. He almost said the whole thing without breathing in, and it felt good to finally get his real feelings and thoughts out instead of inside. Maeve on the other hand, couldn’t comprehend what he was saying. She remembered what he was talking about, but he was wrong on her behalf. She just never thought about how it looked to others, especially him, and finally knew why he was thinking this way. A correction was needed though, and she was desperate to make him understand those things he said from her viewpoint.

“I was confused, okay? I went back to Jackson because I thought you weren’t interested in me because you pulled away. I didn’t tell you everything or anything and I’m sorry.” Maeve looked for any sort of indication as to how he took the news, and she could see that he had gulped, nodded his head in a bit of acknowledgement of what she told him, but still looked quite irritated.

“So that just makes it all okay, does it?” Otis still sounded hurt, and she was beginning to become curious as to why that was.

“No, not at all.” Maeve shook her head almost instantly.

“You still didn’t tell me why you’ve said everything you said now that you’re not with Jackson anymore.” Otis kept his stare straight forward at her so that she would feel that she didn’t have any escape, and Maeve actually felt a little frightened by the boy she was in love with.

“Right, yeah. I will.” Maeve nodded and began to prepare the words she was going to say.

“Oh thanks, that’s _really_ kind of you.” Otis said, with too much sarcasm for Maeve’s liking

“Watch it.” Maeve brought her hand up to point at him and she had her mean face on now. Otis stayed silent to allow her to say her reasons for what she did. “I didn’t know how to tell you before, and being with Jackson just made it all complicated. I just needed to tell you now in case you feel the same way, but I couldn’t do it before because he was in the way.”

“So all this time you’ve loved me, but you couldn’t tell me?” 

“I realised a few days after the moment on the bridge, but I was too afraid to say anything. And confused. But mostly afraid. I physically couldn’t tell you, I didn’t allow myself to. Now that everything including the stuff about Ola and Jackson was up in the air, I took that as an opportunity to tell you what I’m feeling. I shouldn’t have, I’m really sorry.” Maeve looked at him, basically begging him to say something that would stop her from rambling.

“It’s fine.” Otis shut his eyes and rubbed the back of his head whilst sighing. This was way harder than he ever imagined. An awkward silence filled their surroundings, with a faint noise of chatter in the background from the far side of the field. There were only a few students left outside as the final lesson of the day was fast approaching. The pair of them just kept looking at each other, expecting words to come out of the other's mouth. Maeve went to say something but stopped and sighed before restarting.

“Do you uh… Do-” She began but Otis paused her when he brought his hand up to tell her to stop. He looked surprised still, but confused too.

“I need to think about everything, I’ll text you later.” Otis started walking backwards as he spoke, and turned around when he finished. He was soon out of Maeve’s eyesight, and she did everything she could to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall. Her mouth quivered as her mind reminded herself of the painful conversation they just had, and as much as she tried to remember the good parts the bad ones were overloaded. Seemingly, the only positive from their conversation was that they were friends again. Maeve thought they were anyway, she remembered that they mutually agreed they were friends with inferences, but never confirmed it. This did make her more nervous, and thought that she might be able to take her mind of it all by going to her next lesson.

But she was wrong. When Maeve arrived at her desk she slumped down in her chair and got her work out, however she stared at the paper in front of her but kept thinking of Otis and their situation. What had made her like this? Why did he make her think and feel like this? She wasn’t sure whether she loved or hated this feeling, but one thing she did know was that it wasn’t going to disappear any time soon. When she glanced up some of her classmates were looking at her with a hint of disgust before turning around again when they saw her furious glance. Evidently, the news of her break up with Jackson had passed through the school quicker than a fire spreads through a forest, but Maeve knew it would anyway so she had sort of been braced for all this and probably more.

Nonetheless, she managed to get through the hour long lesson even if it dragged on and felt like it as triple the length. She sighed as she packed her things away and went towards the door to go home, and probably cry about everything. She opened the door that had now closed as she spent more time than necessary getting her stuff and stepped out into the corridor, but instantly stopped and her mouth dropped when she spotted a certain someone.

“Hey.” Otis said with a smile, and stopped leaning on the wall to step closer to her. He had his hands in his pockets and seemed nervous. “I thought I got the wrong class for a second, you were in there for a while.” He laughed quietly to himself, but Maeve’s facial expression didn’t change until she realised how stupid she must look and quickly snapped herself back into reality.

“Oh um, yeah. Just had stuff to sort out.” Maeve nodded slightly, showing her nerves were thriving too. It just seemed to make things more awkward though.

“Cool, cool…” Otis began to rock back and forth a little on the ball of his feet. “Listen, um, I had time to think in French, about everything.”

“That’s um, great.” Maeve wasn’t sure what to say. It seemed to become a pattern whenever she spoke to Otis now.

“I’m happy you told me what you were thinking, and that you were being honest.”

Maeve didn’t know how to reply so she nodded, pushing him to continue to say whatever he had in his mind.

“I can believe a lot of what you said earlier, and it means a lot to me that you can tell me the truth even after an argument.”

“I’ve told you why.” Maeve said, quietly and looking to the ground.

“Yeah…” Otis said, smiling at how oblivious she was to what he was about to say. “Uh, about that.”

Maeve looked up at him with a myriad of emotions that were expressed on her face. Fear, anticipation, hope, nervous were just a few but she was very, very keen to hear what he had to say next.

“Do you still mean it?” Otis raised his eyebrows as he waited patiently for her answer. A part of him genuinely believed that a small argument could make her go from loving him to disliking him. 

Maeve smiled and looked to the ground, but this time she was doing it to hide a little bit of her embarrassment rather than shame.

“I don’t think an hour of us being apart is going to change that, dickhead.” She laughed with a closed mouth and smiled widely, although that action was hiding the pain that she had because she thought he didn’t think of her the same way she thinks of him. How naïve of her.

“Right, okay. So you still love me?” Otis needed reaffirmation, he still doubted it for some reason.

Maeve blushed a little and nodded with a relatively long blink and a huge smile.

“I’m going to let you in on a little secret.” Otis said, scratching the back of his neck. He wanted to try and make her as surprised as possible as he loved making her smile, albeit even more when she isn’t expecting something to make her smile. Only then does he know that the smiles are genuine.

“Huh?” Maeve furrowed her eyebrows, puzzled.

“I’m in love with someone too.” Otis grimaced, hoping that she would think it was someone other than her. Why tell her now when he can fool around a little?

“Um, okay…” Maeve’s heart started beating fast. She hoped she had a chance to be that someone, but had a feeling that his heart belonged to someone else. Maybe Ola, or another girl at the school. She internally scolded herself for allowing to think that someone as good as him could ever like her, let alone love her.

“This someone, she’s amazing in every way. I love everything about her.” Otis acted like he was daydreaming about her, when actually he could see every facial expression Maeve was making out of the corner of his eye. She seemed to be getting a little annoyed however.

“Are you trying to piss me off on purpose or something? Even when you told me to be honest with you? Because fuck you if-”

“You’re that someone, Maeve.” Otis said, smiling. Maeve’s eyes were wider than Otis had ever seen them before and when she almost stumbled backwards due to her shock Otis laughed. Her mouth dropped to the floor as Otis revealed who he was talking about. She still couldn’t take her eyes off him but soon enough her mouth closed and she stared at him with an expression that told him so many things that she couldn’t say at the minute.

“I am?” Maeve sounded like she didn’t think all of this was actually happening, but her smile gave Otis the knowledge that she had been wanting to hear him say something like this all day.

“Yep. There’s no one better.” Otis smiled, and Maeve just couldn’t hold it all in anymore. She rushed towards him and gave him a bone crushing hug, even tighter than the one she gave him earlier. She held him tight, with her arms around his neck and her head on his shoulder. He hugged her back this time, and they embraced each other lovingly for a few moments before Otis noticed something up with Maeve.

“Are you crying?” He asked, as Maeve cried onto his shoulder.

“Yeah…” Maeve was very quiet, and Otis struggled to hear her but did manage to understand what she said.

“Are they happy tears?” Otis smiled, knowing the answer. Maeve removed her head from his shoulder to look at him. She moved one of her hands to stroke his cheek.

“Yeah. Happy tears.” She finished and immediately leaned in to give him a kiss, and on the third try of asking he didn’t pull away. He was very awkward at first, and Maeve had to help guide him, but once they got their rhythm going it was addicting. Otis was the first to stop as he didn’t want to get carried away in public, but maybe their PDA would be more comfortable later on. Plus, he didn’t want Maeve to ask him to do anything more than hug or kiss since he knew he was definitely not ready for all of that.

“Sorry if that was bad, I've never kissed anyone before.” Otis said, wanting to do good - not for himself but for Maeve.

“You were fine, great even.” She hugged him tightly again but leaned more into his neck than on his shoulder. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too.” Otis hugged her back, but pulled away when he saw Jackson in the distance talking with one of his friends walking in their direction. This left Maeve confused and she looked at him like he was weird.

“You okay?” Maeve tilted her head, wondering why he was suddenly being strange.

“Hmm?” Otis missed what she said since he was glancing at Jackson every now and again to see if Jackson and his friend were going to walk past himself and Maeve. Of course, they were, which made Otis revert back to his very awkward self. He didn’t want to seem like he got with Maeve straight after Jackson dumped her.

“Is everything okay?” Maeve repeated, and Otis nodded in reply. She hugged him again just as Jackson was about to walk past and Maeve spotted him as he did, and she felt like saying something for a little bit of vengeance.

“Jackson?” Maeve said, and Otis was a little nervous with the way she said it. To Otis, it seemed like she was having doubts about everything, but he couldn’t be further from the truth. Jackson stopped and his friend did too.

“Carry on, I’ll meet you out front.” Jackson ushered him away.

“Alright, see ya in a bit.” The jock walked off and Jackson turned around to face Maeve. She was still close to Otis but she wasn’t hugging him. 

“What do you want?”

“Just to thank you.” Maeve shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

“What?” Jackson and Otis spoke in unity, equally as confused.

“Thank you. You know, for the advice you gave me earlier.” Maeve laughed quietly.

“I don’t remember but sure, whatever.” Jackson shook his head slightly, wanting to leave at the earliest opportunity.

“You don’t? That’s a shame, you just told me to go and be Otis’ girlfriend.” Maeve sniggered,

Jackson looked surprised and took a moment to realise what she said.

“So you two are… dating?” Jackson said, cautiously.

“Uh huh.” Maeve leaned in and gave Otis a short kiss. Jackson just scoffed and walked on, ready to put all this behind him and focus on himself. It was the best he could do right now.

“That was a bit harsh.” Otis joked once Jackson had been cleared from the area, and Maeve just smiled and shrugged her shoulders yet again.

“Sorry if I was pushing it, you know, about us dating.” Maeve said, feeling a little bad. She knew they hadn't talked about labels.

“Well, at least I know your intentions now.” Otis said, and Maeve breathed out heavily with a smile because she knew he was right.

“Are your intentions the same as mine?” Maeve teased, and tilted her head again with a beaming smile. Otis gave a similar smile back and leaned in to kiss her once more.

“Yeah…” He said, once they pulled away. “Oh, I don’t think I’ll be able to um... have intercourse, uh or engage in oral gratification just yet… sorry.”

“Did I say we would be doing that stuff?” Maeve teased with a giggle.

“No, uh, I was just making you aware if you ever do. I don’t expect any of it off of you.” Otis said, thinking she was being serious.

“I know, dickhead.” She kissed him again. “We’ll do it when you’re ready, no pressure. Plus you’ve told me twice now that you’re a virgin, I didn’t expect you to want to straight away.”

“Thanks.” Otis smiled, but was secretly annoyed with himself that he wasn’t able to do anything like that yet. He wanted to make Maeve be happy with him, and feared that if he did the smallest thing wrong that he wouldn’t be dating her anymore, but he was in good hands. He just didn’t fully know it yet.

“Wanna hang out at my place later?” Maeve asked. She was nervous to allow him in, but of all the people she knew, he was the one person she wanted to be able to have in her home. At all times, if possible.

“I’d love to.” Otis hugged her goodbye as they were going different ways. “See you later.”

“See you soon.” Maeve returned the hug, and was a little bit disappointed that he’d be going for a bit. She stood in the hall for a moment watching him go, and the hallways were empty now so it was just them.

“I love you!” Otis called as he turned the corner, and Maeve laughed. 

She turned the other way with a huge smile on her face, thanking whatever had managed to put them together. She was struggling to contain her excitement that she was together with Otis that she was bobbing up and down a tiny bit as she walked, making small, cute, but very quiet squealing noises whenever she remembered about all that had happened less than 5 minutes ago and the fact that Otis was her boyfriend. 

Otis had a similar reaction, but relief more than anything. He was happy to be able to call Maeve his first and only girlfriend too, and hoped that it would remain that way for as long as possible. He couldn’t wait to get home and just think about the day before it would be time to go to Maeve’s to hang out. He would never take anything for granted ever again, and even 2 hours after their first kiss he still struggled to keep up with the fact that Maeve was his girlfriend.

They had to work for it, but it all paid off in the end. They could truly say they were happier than ever before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As this is the end for the foreseeable future, I just want to thank everyone who has read, commented and given kudos on my stories. That was just part of the reason why I pumped out so many chapters when I first began on 'Their Way', and I have loved writing and publishing stories about these lovely characters for you guys. I may be back, I may not be, but regardless I'm thankful for everyone's interactions on the stories, especially as most if not all of them have been positive! 
> 
> Again, thank you everyone. I look forward to reading the works that you guys come up with next! (If you're a writer, obviously😅
> 
> S3 needs to put these two together!

**Author's Note:**

> May end up not updating this for a while, and this may also be my last fic for a very long time, maybe even forever. Writing motivation isn't really there at the moment, and if it doesn't come back when S3 is near then I fear it just simply won't come back at all. So you may see me writing again in the future or you may not, I just don't know.
> 
> One thing's for sure, I will definitely keep reading them because there are so many fantastic stories and fantastic writers here!


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